The present disclosure relates generally to optical beam couplers and splitters.
Since the inception of microelectronics, a consistent trend has been toward the development of optoelectronic circuits, such as optical interconnects. This may be due, at least in part, to the fact that optoelectronic circuits may offer advantages over typical electronic circuits, such as, for example, a much larger bandwidth (by many orders of magnitude). Such optoelectronic circuits often involve the transmission of optical signals, and the interconversion of such optical signals into electronic signals. In some instances, performing optical signal transmission involves a waveguide. Optical wave guides are commonly made with glass or polymers. Extraction of a fraction of the guided signal with these solid wave guides typically requires complicated tapping structures. Some optical waveguides are hollow metal structures. Optical signals propagate in air through such structures, and, as such, stringent alignment and collimation are required for proper signal transmission.